Taller de Permiso (Permission Workshop) is a cultural arts and economic justice campaign to decode the municipal permitting process and build sustainable economic opportunities in Brownsville, Texas.

The project title plays with the idea of permitting as a method of granting permission, and of permission granting being a top down process. Taller de Permiso is a project about community members giving permission to themselves and to one another to celebrate their cultures, unleash their imaginations, and take an active role in shaping their city.

The project celebrates and amplifies the existing sensibilities of the community, using art as a tool to collaboratively imagine how equitable economic development could be implemented in the city, incubate emerging small businesses, and explore the potential for alternative, micro economies.

Taller de Pemiso serves as a bridge, bringing the community and the city together to discuss how permitting for micro economies could better serve the needs of low income residents. As part of the campaign, community members engage the city in discussions to implement their ideas through a series of art interventions.

The program will culminate in the creation of a mobile negotiation space to facilitate discussions on permitting among diverse stakeholders, and the development of a community plan for sustainable economic development.